HHV-8 and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Prevalence in the cerebrospinal fluid of the following infectious agents in a cohort of 12 CFS subjects: human herpes virus-6 and 8; chlamydia species; mycoplasma species; EBV; CMV; and Coxsackievirus.

Levine, S. Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, 2001, 9, 1/2, 41-51.

Abstract: Over the last decade a wide variety of infectious agents have been associated with the CFS as potential etiologies for this disorder. Many of these agents are neurotrophic and have been linked previously to other diseases involving the central nervous system (CNS). Human herpes virus-6 (HHV-6), especially the B variant, has been found in autopsy specimens of patients who suffered from MS. Because patients with CFS manifest a wide range of symptoms involving the CNS as shown by abnormalities on brain MRIs, SPECT scans of the brain and results of tilt table testing we sought to determine the prevalence of HHV-6, HHV-8, Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), mycoplasma species, chlamydia species, and Coxsackie virus in the spinal fluid of a group of 12 patients with CFS (CDC criteria '94).
We found evidence of HHV-6, HHV-8, chlamydia species, CMV and Coxsackie virus in 6/12 samples. Plasma tests were negative. It was surprising to obtain such a relatively high yield of infectious agents in cell free specimens of spinal fluid that had not been centrifuged. Future research in spinal fluid analysis, in addition to testing tissue samples by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and other direct viral isolation techniques will be important in characterizing subpopulations of CFS patients, especially those with involvement of the CNS.
The low rate of isolation of HHV-6 may be related to the lack of gross neurological findings in the patients at the time of testing.